SIDELIGHTS: Computer graphics consultant David Blatner has written numerous books about computer desktop publishing and graphics programs. In particular, he has produced books about the Quark desktop publishing package and the Photoshop graphics editing package. He has also written a well-received general guide to desktop publishing, The Desktop Publisher's Survival Kit, first published in 1991. In Times Educational Supplement, Les Watson declared that the book "is exactly what the title says, giving excellent insights into some of the less commonly-covered aspects of [desktop publishing] such as file formats, fonts for screen and paper, and how to handle half-tones." Reviewing another of Blatner's books, The QuarkXPress Book, Publishers Weekly contributor John Bybee called it "one of the mainstays of [desktop publishing] tutorials."

While such books as The Desktop Publisher's Survival Kit are useful guides for those who are just beginning to learn all about how to use a computer for various publishing functions, Blatner has also written works that are aimed at skilled computer users, such as Real World Photoshop 7: Industrial Strength Production Techniques, which assumes the user has some knowledge already in working with this graphics program. But another work by Blatner, Silicon Mirage: The Art and Science of Virtual Reality, which he wrote with Steven Aukstakalnis, takes an advanced concept—virtual reality—and provides a general overview for all readers interested in the subject. Here, Blatner and Aukstakalnis cover virtually all aspects of this specialized field, including all the possible applications for virtual reality, from architecture to the sciences to entertainment. Although Computers in Libraries reviewer Richard Johnson complained that the authors do not provide an index or formal bibliography in the book, he praised the way they relate the virtual reality computer tools "in superb fashion to the senses."

Besides his graphics applications and writing, Blatner has also involved himself in crusading to save "dead" pages from Internet oblivion. Interviewed by James Gleick in New York Times, Blatner said, "I keep thinking, if my grandparents had built a Web site, wouldn't I want it archived and available on the Net in the years to come for their grandchildren?" Blatner has taken action to assure that this is an option; he formed a nonprofit Web site preservation organization called Afterlife. Ashley Dunn wrote in New York Times, "There are other efforts to archive parts of the Web, such as the Internet Archive project. It's not trying to grab everything on the Net, just what regular people have chosen themselves as important to save for the future."

Blatner has also penned a number of books that do not concern computers or computer software. In his guide to the number pi, The Joy of Pi, for example, Blatner called upon his computer graphics skills to add a creative layout for this lighthearted mathematics book. Booklist reviewer Gilbert Taylor wrote: "Even numerically challenged readers will find Blatner's tale immensely appealing." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly pointed out that The Joy of Pi "is a book ideally suited to being left lying about, so that science buffs and aficionados of fine typography can peruse it at leisure."

The author, who is Jewish and also an experienced pilot, has written two other books drawing on his personal knowledge of these subjects: Judaism for Dummies and The Flying Book: Everything You Ever Wondered about Flying on Airplanes. As with his book about pi, these works are meant to be informative and entertaining. The former provides a guide to Judaism for either gentiles interested in learning more about the Jewish faith, or lapsed Jews who wish to reintroduce themselves to their religious background. The Flying Book aims to cover just about every aspect of flying, from the physics of flight to the workings of air traffic control and the preparation of airline food. Also included are "fascinating facts," according to Booklist reviewer David Pitt, such as how a jet engine works and what happens to passenger's body weight when an airplane takes off. All in all, concluded Pitt, The Flying Book is a "wonderful treat for aviation aficionados."

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